12. SOUL AND DEAR

The first significant work of the mature Chekhov, written in the first person, was the story "A Boring Story" (1889). In the 90s, this form is firmly established. Recall: "The Wife", "Fear (the story of my friend)" (1892); "The Story of an Unknown Man" (1893); "The story of the senior gardener" (1894); "Ariadne" (1895); "A House with a Mezzanine (Artist's Story)" and "My Life (Provincial's Story)" (1896). Finally, "The Man in the Case", "Gooseberries", "On Love" (1898).

And - the story "Ionych", begun in the same form, but then transformed. From that moment on, Chekhov would no longer return to the form of narration in the first person. All his works of the subsequent - last - years were written on behalf of the author (“Case from practice”, “Darling”, “New cottage”, “On business”, “Lady with a dog”, “At Christmas time”, “In the ravine”, "Bishop", "Bride") ( True, the note to the story "On Affairs of the Service" in the notebook is given in the first person.).

It is more difficult to explain this fact than to establish it. Obviously, it is connected with the general trend of Chekhov's development in the 90s - 900s - with his striving into the spiritual, inner world of the hero.

Here, however, one clarification must be made. It would be naive to think that the form of a work with a hero-narrator limits the author in revealing the inner world of the hero, in psychological analysis. The thing is that even with this form, the hero-narrator and the author do not coincide. Even when he seems to take the place of the author, the hero-narrator does not become one.

The idea approved by the author, his position, views, assessments - all this is not reasoning, not “quotes”, but what is inherent in the structure of the work, which gradually comes through the personal intonation of the characters, their disputes, collisions. In whatever form the story is told, the author cannot be reduced to any of the characters. It is pointless to look for Chekhov directly in the "unknown person", in the "senior gardener", in Trigorin or in Petya Trofimov. The author does not speak "through the mouth of one of the heroes", because he is the concept of "stony".

Chekhov's refusal of the Ich-Form in the late 90s and early 900s cannot be understood in a straightforward way: in this narrative form, Chekhov could deeply and objectively reveal the inner world of the hero.

What has been said is not contradicted by the fact that the objective form of narration - from an impersonal, directly unrevealed, omniscient author - opened up new possibilities for revealing the hero's inner world.

“Ionych”, “Darling”, “Lady with a Dog”, “Bishop”, “Bride” - it is enough to put these works of the late 90s and early 900s in a row to indicate an important common feature for them: the hero opens from the outside and from within. We hear his voice and read his thoughts; his internal monologues are heard. In this sense, the story "The Bishop" is the result of the development of Chekhov the artist, his desire to reveal the world of the soul of his hero. It is no coincidence that such a coincidence: in all cases the title of the story is the name or designation of the protagonist. These are portrait stories and research stories.

We talked about another important lesson of the little trilogy and "Ionych": the subject of satire and the narrator are not separated by an impenetrable line. Nikolai Ivanych, the owner of the gooseberry plant, and Ivan Ivanych, who tells about him, are brothers. This is one of the most significant artistic achievements of Chekhov. Satire, laughter, anecdote - all this for him is not some separate area of \u200b\u200blife, but is hidden in life itself, in its depths, in its smallest pores.

When you think about Chekhov's humor and satire, the words of Jules Renard come to mind, who wrote in his diary quite shortly before his death:

“I am not satisfied with any definition of humor. However, humor contains everything" ( Jules Renard. A diary. Featured Pages. M., "Fiction", 1965, p. 485.).

Ionych appeared as one of the nice inhabitants of the city of S., and left as some kind of terrible creature, reaching the limit of greed and bestiality.

Chekhov of recent years is especially attentive to all kinds of transitional forms of life - existence - vegetation. We find heroes, non-heroes, and "semi-heroes" in him. There are no strict boundaries here. A person can be in a case, the soul - in a dressing gown. And not just appear, but slowly, gradually, imperceptibly appear.

Chekhov is the great diagnostician of the human soul. And this means that it represents the entire inexhaustible variety of possible cases, situations, options.

The hero of "A Boring Story" remarked:

“My fellow therapists, when they teach healing, they advise “to individualize each individual case.” This advice must be heeded to make sure that the means recommended in the textbooks as the best and quite suitable for the template turn out to be completely unsuitable in individual cases. The same is true of moral ailments” (VII, 270-271).

Alekhine will repeat the same thought when speaking about love: “It is necessary, as the doctors say, to individualize each individual case” (IX, 277).

The title of the story "The Man in the Case" was associated with "Dead Souls". But here is another name - "Darling". What is the analogy here? Before us is a special, highly individualized case.

As is often the case with Chekhov, the title has a complex figurative meaning. "Darling" - this is how they call Olga Semyonovna, as Startsev is called "Ionych", Anna Sergeevna - "the lady with the dog." But after all, “darling” is not only a nickname - it is “soul” in a diminutive form. We are entering some special world - not even a world, but a little world. And Olga Semyonovna, as a girl, is called “Olenka”, and the cat Brys is not just a cat, but a “black cat”. Here everything is reduced, as if through an inverted binocular, starting from Olenka's first husband, whom she cares for like a child ("- What a nice little one you are!" she said quite sincerely, smoothing his hair. "How pretty you are!"), And ending with the "boy" Sasha ( An interesting correction. In the text of the magazine, “The family“ darling ”said the boy Sasha:“ You are so smart ”(“ Family ”, 1899, No. 1, p. 4). Preparing a story for the Collected Works, Chekhov corrected: "You're so smart." This touch well conveys the atmosphere of "diminutiveness" that fills the story "Darling".); she calls her first husband Kukin "Vanichka", the second - "Vasichka".

"Darling" - this word itself correlates with many words, epithets, expressions in the text of the story. It is figuratively and, if I may say so, morphologically subordinated to the general structure of the story about the human soul, brought to the scale of a “darling”.

This "diminutiveness" of the image of the heroine puts her in a special position, which cannot be defined by the usual coordinates of the "positive - negative hero". The fact that the soul is reduced is, of course, a negative moment, but the soul is not dead, not in a case. And having decreased, in many ways she remained a soul, did not lose kindness, compassion, and the ability to self-deny.

The complexity of the image of the "darling" caused the most varied reactions from the readers of the story - from harsh condemnation to the most excited praise.

“Here anxiously, like a gray mouse, “Darling” scurries - a sweet, meek woman who knows how to love so slavishly, knows how to love so much,” wrote Gorky. M. Gorky. Collected works, vol. V. M., GIHL, 1950, p. 428 (feature "A. P. Chekhov").).

And - almost the opposite opinion of Leo Tolstoy. Chekhov's friend P. Sergeenko wrote to him that Tolstoy read the story four times aloud and called "Darling" a work of art, quoting various places from it from memory (OR GBL).

In the preface to Chekhov’s story, Tolstoy said: “He (Chekhov), as Valaam, intended to curse, but the god of poetry forbade him and ordered him to bless, and he blessed and involuntarily clothed this sweet creature with such a wonderful light that it forever remains a model of what he can to be a woman in order to be happy herself and to make happy those with whom fate brings her together ”( L. N. Tolstoy. Complete Works, vol. 41. M., 1957. About Tolstoy's statements about the story "Darling" see in the book. V. Lakshina "Tolstoy and Chekhov" (M., "Soviet Writer", 1963, chapter "Tolstoy's Favorite Story", pp. 94 - 115. Second revised ed., 1975, pp. 81 - 97). Rich concrete material is contained in the article by A. S. Melkova “The creative fate of the story “Darling” (collection “In the creative laboratory of Chekhov”. M., “Nauka”, 1974).).

Between these two poles - Gorky and Tolstoy - numerous reviews of readers who stopped in bewilderment, sometimes even in confusion before the incomprehensible complexity of the image.

"I'm used to, - reading your works of recent years," Yevgenia Lomakina wrote to Chekhov on January 5, 1899, "always endure a more or less clear idea of the goal - for the sake of which your one or another story was written." Immediately, the reader became an IB dead end: “Why did you stop at this type of woman, what does this type signify in modern life, do you really consider it positive thanks only to those aspects of the soul that opened up in the heroine in the second half of her life - do you consider all the first half of a story typical of modern marriage, modern middle-class girls and education?

In conclusion, the reader admitted: “in me and in most of my circle, the type you brought out caused not so much sympathy as a completely negative attitude, and in many even ridicule and bewilderment” (OR GBL).

I. I. Gorbunov-Posadov, one of the most sensitive and attentive readers-correspondents of Chekhov, informed him on January 24 of the same 1899:

“Some lady said that “Darling” [“Darling”] was written very nicely, but that it was an insulting mockery of a woman. She didn't understand the story at all. In my opinion, the attitude of the author to "Darling" is in no way a mockery, it is a sweet, subtle humor, through which sadness is heard.<...>over "Darling", and there are thousands of them ... "( OR GBL. Published in "Izvestia" OLYA AN USSR", 1959, No. 6.).

With all the breadth of the reader's assessments of the Chekhov story, there are reviews among them that speak of a contradiction between the author's intention and its real embodiment. According to Leo Tolstoy, Chekhov wanted to condemn and ridicule the heroine, but in reality, as an artist, he did something the opposite - he glorified her, fanned him with his sympathy.

The creative history of the story sheds new light on this circumstance - it helps to understand how the author of Darling started and what he came to; how different, almost opposite aspects of the image intersected in this work.

Again we see how far the prehistory of Chekhov's works goes into the past. In this sense, the literary biography of the story "Darling" is especially complex. The earliest motives or "pre-motives" of the story date back to the end of the second half of the 80s. Thus, the prehistory of "Darling" is measured in about a decade, even a little more.

In 1893, the "Story of an Unknown Man" was published in the February and March issue of the Russian Thought magazine. In a letter to L. Ya. Gurevich on May 22 of this year, Chekhov reported: “The Story of an Unknown Man” I began to write in 1887-88, not having the intention of publishing it anywhere, then I abandoned it; last year I redid it, this year I finished it...” (XVI, 67).

The TsGALI stores leaflets with Chekhov's notes.

“I left Grigory Ivanovich feeling beaten and deeply offended,” we read on one of them. “I was irritated against good words and against those who speak them ...” (see in full XII, 299). E. N. Konshina, in the notes to vol. XII, where Chekhov’s notes are published on separate sheets, presumably with a question mark, indicates that the passage could refer to the “Story of an Unknown Man”, but was not included in the final text (XII, 386) .

It seems that the question mark can be removed: the connection of the passage with the "Tale of an Unknown Man" no longer raises doubts.

Grigory Ivanovich - this is the name of the official Orlov, to whom the “unknown person” enters as a lackey (in the printed text he is not “Grigory”, but “George”). Let us point to the possible place of the story-tale, to which the passage probably referred - the end of chapter III. The hero describes conversations with Georgy Ivanovich; the chapter ends like this: “At three or four o’clock the guests dispersed or left<...>, and I went to my valet's room and for a long time could not fall asleep from a headache and cough "(VIII, 185).

Here is another sheet, judging by its appearance and handwriting, belonging to the same manuscript as the first:

“The inner content of these women is as gray and dull as their faces and outfits; they talk about science, literature, trends, etc., only because they are the wives and sisters of scientists and writers: if they were the wives and sisters of district bailiffs or dentists, they would talk about fires or teeth with the same zeal. To allow them to speak about a science that is alien to them, and to listen to them, is to flatter their ignorance” (XII, 300-301).

Whose words are these?

In all likelihood, they belong to the same Georgy Ivanovich Orlov, who throughout the entire “Story of an Unknown Man” maliciously, mockingly, sarcastically denounces women, accuses them of ignorance and lack of independence of judgment. What, it would seem, is the dignity of a woman - the ability to love - in his opinion, is her main misfortune and shortcoming.

“Love and a man are the main essence of her life,” he develops his favorite thought in front of the guests, “and perhaps in this respect the philosophy of the unconscious works in her; if you please convince her that love is only a simple need, like food and clothing...” (VIII, 193).

In the story, Orlov especially caustically ridicules Zinaida Fedorovna, who has moved to him, because she talks about things that are inaccessible to her. “... It would not hurt us to agree once and for all,” he remarked instructively, “not to talk about what we have long known, or about what is not within the circle of our competence” (VIII, 201). With the same teaching, he addresses her further: "For God's sake, for the sake of everything holy, do not talk about what is already known to everyone and everyone! .." (see VIII, 212).

About Orlov's cynical attitude towards a woman, about the desire to bend her low to the dirt, about "eternal references to a woman's logic" will be said in a farewell letter to him by an "unknown person".

Not only Orlov's reasoning is about the fate and position of a woman. In essence, it is precisely this question that the heroine of the story, Zinaida Fyodorovna, decides and cannot solve. She left her husband for Orlov. Having learned the truth about this unworthy man, whom she loved sincerely and naively, she leaves him along with the "unknown person". She does not want to be content with the role of a woman "with" someone.

“All these wonderful ideas of yours,” she throws in the face of an “unknown person,” “I see, they boil down to one inevitable, necessary step: I must become your mistress. Here's what you need. To rush about with ideas and not to be the mistress of the most honest, most ideological person means not to understand ideas. We must begin with this ... that is, with a mistress, and the rest will follow by itself ”(VIII, 241).

She passes away, commits suicide because she does not want and cannot come to terms with such a position and role ( In a magazine text in this conversation, the heroine added: “Now, if, however, I met with some third ideological person, then with a fourth, with a fifth ... maybe something happened<...>But I'm tired... It will be" (VIII, 542).).

Usually those who wrote about the "Story" paid the main attention to the ideological evolution of the "unknown person", his disappointment in the revolutionary underground, in terror. But there is another theme here, connected with the image of Zinaida Fedorovna. She is very important to us right now.

We see that the passage “The inner content of these women is just as gray and dull ...” is deeply connected with the “Story of an Unknown Man” - both with Orlov’s philosophy and with the fate of Zinaida Fedorovna, who tried to free herself from the inevitable fate of a woman “with”, a servant , mistress, lower being.

S. Balukhaty was the first to draw attention to the fact that this passage in many ways anticipates the story "Darling" ( S. Balukhaty. Chekhov's notebooks. "Literary Study", 1934, No. 2, p. 58.).

Now we can clarify: a passage that arose in the course of work on the "Story of an Unknown Man" in 1887 - 1888 contained a motif that would then be developed in the story "Darling" ( A. S. Melkova also speaks about this in the article mentioned above.).

The first note, already directly related to Darling, appeared in the mid-90s in the First Notebook:

“She was the wife of an artist - she loved the theater, writers, it seemed that everything went into her husband’s business, and everyone was surprised that he married so successfully; but now he is dead; she married a confectioner, and it turned out that she loves nothing more than making jam, and she despised the theater, as she was religious in imitation of her second husband ”(I, 48, 1).

It is not difficult to find a similarity in the construction of the note "The inner content of these women ..." and the entry "I was the wife of an artist ...". In the first case: they talk about literature because they are the wives of writers; if they were the wives of local doctors or dentists, they would talk about fires or teeth. In the second: she was the wife of an artist - she loved the theater; became the wife of a devout confectioner - she began to despise the theater.

In both cases, first - a person representing art, with whom the heroine connects her fate, then, on the contrary, a person who is very far from art; obeying him, the heroine renounces her former passion for art. At the same time, the difference is clearly visible. In the first case, we are talking about women, about their whole category. Many are meant. Scientists and writers, district or dentists are mentioned only as an example of the conditions under which these women could find themselves and how they would change. There are no specific individuals here.

In the second case, it is about a certain person, about the fate of a woman who repeated the opinions of her husband, an artist, then - a religious confectioner.

When does the entry “Was the wife of an artist ...” appear? In the midst of Chekhov's work on the story "Ariadne". The entry (I, 48, 1) is between the notes to this story - “In Paris. It seemed to her that if the French saw how she was built, they would be delighted” (I, 45, 2) and “Ariadne speaks three languages excellently. A woman learns languages soon, because she has a lot of empty space in her head” (I, 50, 1). Just as in The Tale of an Unknown Man, the female theme occupies a large, even greater place in Ariadne. In both works, the heroine is confronted by a hero who denounces her and women in general: Zinaida Fedorovna - Orlov, Ariadne - Shamokhin.

Telling the story of his passion for Ariadna, love and disappointment, Shamokhin categorically states that "women are deceitful, petty, vain, unfair, undeveloped, cruel - in a word, not only not higher, but even immeasurably lower than us men" (IX, 62 - 63). This is a "passionate, convinced misogynist" (IX, 83).

Just like Orlov, Shamokhin blames women for the lack of independence of their judgments. In a magazine text, he said: “I won’t argue, there are educated among them, just as there are educated starlings and parrots” (IX, 551) ( See "Russian Thought", 1895, book. XII, p. 24.).

Now it becomes somewhat clearer to us how the note to "Darling" could have appeared precisely in the process of working on "Ariadne".

A very significant circumstance: two sketches, anticipating the story “Darling”, “The inner content of these women is just as gray and dull ...” and “She was the wife of an artist ...” - are associated with two works where the question of the fate of a woman is decided, but where the heroines are directly opposite: Zinaida Fedorovna is afraid of the fate of a simple “appendage” to a man, a mistress, a doll in rags. Ariadne dreams of nothing else.

Zinaida Fyodorovna was deceived in Orlov, she is his victim; on the contrary, Shamokhin is himself a victim of Ariadne, he was deceived in her.

So already in its very inception, the story "Darling" was between the poles of affirmation and denial, between the noble, capable of love Zinaida Fedorovna and the vicious Ariadne, who did not know what true love was.

Chekhov's contemporaries, the first readers of Darling, came up with the idea to compare this heroine with Ariadne.

Is it possible to say that in the sketch “I was the wife of an artist ...” the main thing in “Darling” is already outlined? Hardly. In essence, here the heroine is just an echo of the opinions of her husband, first the first, then the second. “She was the wife of an artist - she loved the theater ...” Whether she loved an artist is unknown, she simply “was a wife.” But she loved the theater, writers, because the artist loved, well, she at the same time.

There is also not a word about love for her second husband: “she married a confectioner and it turned out that she loves nothing so much as making jam ...”

The word “loved”, “loves” is used twice in the sketch, but each time it refers not to the person with whom the heroine connected her fate, but to those of his passions, hobbies that she shares, forgetting about what happened before.

No, this is not “Darling” yet - rather, as Shamokhin said, “a parrot”, a person without his own voice, capable of being only an echo of others.

In the story, the heroine does not just marry Kukin - he touched her soul, aroused compassion, a desire to help, share with him anxieties, troubles, failures, his desperate struggle with the indifference of the public:

“Olenka listened to Kukin in silence, seriously, and it happened that tears appeared in her eyes. In the end, Kukin's misfortunes touched her, she fell in love with him" (IX, 316). So the word “fell in love” appeared in the story, addressed not to the heroine’s hobby, borrowed from her husband (“she loved the theater”, “she loves nothing so much as making jam”), but to the life partner herself.

In the sketch, the heroine is given in a parody - this is a puppet; she takes her love for the theater from her husband, an artist, as if for rent. The artist himself is devoid of comedy: it is natural that he loves the theater, his work.

In the story, on the contrary, the first husband is ridiculous - this is not an artist, as in the passage, but a small, troublesome, unsuccessful entrepreneur and owner of the Tivoli Pleasure Garden. Here are the first words with which he appears before the heroine: “... the public, ignorant, wild. I give her the best operetta, an extravaganza of magnificent coupletists, but does she really need it? Does she understand any of this? She needs a bootleg! Give her vulgarity!” (IX, 315).

Kukin considers his operettas, coupletists, magicians, "local amateurs" to be real art, inaccessible to a base public.

Thus, if in the sketch the heroine is a shadow of the opinion of her husband, an artist, then in the story she is a “shadow of a shadow”, because Kukin himself does not know what true art is, he himself takes his opinions secondhand.

“But does the public understand this? - she said. - She needs a farce! Yesterday we had Faust Inside Out, and almost all the boxes were empty, and if Vanichka and I put on some vulgarity, then, believe me, the theater would be packed to capacity" (IX, 317).

It may seem: she is even funnier than her Kukin - word for word repeats him and in itself ridiculous reasoning.

But it's not. Kukin is simply ridiculous, pitiful in his contempt of a loser-operator who denounces an ignorant public. The "darling" has an excuse: she loves Kukin. And not just loves, but identifies with him. “Vanichka and I” is her special pronoun, in which both “he”, Kukin, and “I”, “darling”, completely merged for her. “Tomorrow Vanichka and I are putting on Orpheus in Hell, come.”

Kukin aroused in her "a real, deep feeling." He himself is so captured by his painful efforts, attempts to captivate and entertain the viewer that he is not up to it. On their wedding night it says:

“He was happy, but since it rained on the day of the wedding and then at night [which means losses for Tivo-li], the expression of despair did not leave his face” (IX, 317).

In the sketch, the funny thing was that the heroine loves the theater only because she is the wife of an artist - and only until then. In the story, the contrast between the loving "darling" and the comic Kukin was added to this, who, even on the first wedding night, is in despair due to losses.

The first husband in the note “She was the wife of an artist ...” (I, 48, 1) was followed by a devout confectioner. In the story, this transition is given sharper, more contrasting. After Kukin, with all his crackling pyrotechnics, amusing fuss and despair, comes not the confectioner, but the sedate, sensible manager of the lumberyard Pustovalov. The difference is also emphasized in the surnames: "Kukin" - something of little solidity, funny, scanty; "Pustovalov" - more monumental and representative, although "empty". The first surname exhales almost like one syllable, the second is more difficult to pronounce hastily.

“Beam, round timber, tes, shelevka, nameless, reshotnik, gun carriage, slab” - this is not “Faust inside out” for you, it’s a serious matter.

When clouds were approaching, promising troubles and losses, Kukin shouted "with hysterical laughter" - Pustovalov says "sedately".

This complete opposite of Kukin and Pustovalov is paradoxically combined with the same fidelity, love of the "darling", her complete dissolution in the world of one, and then the other.

“Tomorrow Vanichka and I are staging “Orpheus in Hell” and “Vasichka and I have no time to go to theaters” - the contrasting similarity is brought to the limit.

"Darling" takes over not only the thoughts and words, but even the intonation of her husbands. "She needs a farce!" she exclaims in Kukinsky, speaking of the audience. And the words that there is no time to go to the theaters, she pronounces in Pustovalovskaya “sedately”.

In the sketch "I was the wife of an artist ...", two husbands of the heroine were mentioned and - accordingly - two circles of her ideas. In the story, this appeared as two contrastingly interconnected chapters (although there is no graphical division into chapters). Instead of "Vanichka" - "Vasichka". About "Vanichka": "After the wedding, they lived well." About "Vasichka": "Pustovalov and Olenka, having got married, lived well." Vanichka is dying: “My dear! - Olenka sobbed<...>To whom did you leave your poor Olenka, poor, unfortunate? ..” Vasichka dies: “- To whom did you leave me, my dear? - she sobbed ... *

There is in all this some kind of semi-animation of the heroine, almost a mechanical predestination.

The story of the family life of the darling with Kukin and Pusto-Valov coincides in plot, as a scheme, although very approximately, with what is outlined in the note I, 48, 1. The second half of the story already creates new situations that are not provided for in the note. The third hobby of the "darling" begins - the regimental veterinarian Smirnin - he broke up with his wife and sends her money to support her son; “Hearing about this, Olenka sighed and shook her head, and she felt sorry for him” (IX, 320). Her feeling for Smirnin begins in the same way as for Kukin - she is touched by his misfortunes, arouse compassionate sympathy.

"Darling" enters the third world, the third circle of ideas, information, truths. Most of all, she now worries about veterinary supervision in the city.

“When guests came to him [Smirnin], his colleagues in the regiment, then she, pouring tea for them or serving them dinner, began to talk about the plague on cattle, about pearl disease, about city slaughterhouses, and he was terribly embarrassed and when the guests left , grabbed her hand and hissed angrily:

I told you not to talk about things you don't understand! When we veterinarians talk among ourselves, please don't interfere. It's finally boring!

And she looked at him with amazement and anxiety and asked:

Volodichka, what should I talk about?!

And she embraced him with tears in her eyes, begging him not to be angry, and both were happy.

This scene calls to mind another one from The Unknown Man's Tale. Orlov angrily asks Zinaida Fyodorovna:

“- For God's sake, for the sake of all that is holy, do not talk about what is already known to everyone and everyone! And what an unfortunate ability our smart, thinking ladies have to speak with a thoughtful look and with passion about something that has long been boring even high school students. Oh, if you would eliminate all these serious issues from our marriage program! How would you lend it!

We women cannot dare to have our own judgment” (VIII, 212-213).

But the roll call emphasizes the difference more sharply: Orlov and Zinaida Fedorovna are separated by a misunderstanding of each other. The discord between Smirnin and Olga Semyonovna is drowned out by her love, tears, and sincere bewilderment: “What should I talk about ?!”

In the last “chapter” of the story, the theme of love and self-sacrifice of the “darling” sounds with increasing force. The vet leaves. She remains alone, without affection, without strangers, and therefore without her own opinions.

When Kukin left, the "darling" could not sleep. When she was Pustovalov's wife, she dreamed of whole mountains of boards and boards. When Smirnin left, she looked "indifferently at her empty yard, did not think about anything, did not want anything, and then, when night fell, she went to sleep and saw her empty yard in a dream" (IX, 322).

Her soul was empty, because the “darling” did not know how to live by herself, with her own deeds and worries.

The return of the veterinarian with his son, with his wife, with whom he reconciled, revives the heroine to life.

From the point of view of her purely feminine interests, the reconciliation of the veterinarian with his wife could hardly please her. But at this moment she thinks about something else: that she will no longer be alone, her loneliness, emptiness, nothingness has ended. Hearing that the veterinarian is looking for an apartment for herself with her family, she is ready to give him everything, if only there were living creatures next to her.

“- Lord, father, take my house from me! Why not an apartment? Oh, Lord, I won’t take anything from you,” Olenka became agitated and began to cry again. “Live here, and the outhouse is enough for me. Joy, Lord! (IX, 324).

Thus begins the fourth chapter in the life of the "darling". She fell in love with the boy Sasha, the son of a veterinarian, immediately, without hesitation, instantly feeling a deep concern for him, a maternal feeling: “her heart in her chest became warm and sank sweetly, as if this boy was her own son.” It would seem that the attachment of the "darling" to the child Sasha is a completely different matter than her love for Kukin, Pustovalov, Smirnin. But this is not so: the basis of her hobbies in all cases is a maternal, spontaneous, unthinking feeling, pity, kindness, readiness to caress, bestow, give everything to the end (“Joy, Lord!”) ( That is why it is difficult to agree with V. Lakshin when he writes: “Manyusya Shelestova in the story “Teacher of Literature” is a kind of “Darling” (in his book “Tolstoy and Chekhov”, M., “Soviet Writer”, 1963, p. 111. See also 2nd revised ed., 1975, p. 94). Manyusya, who, having found a piece of sausage or cheese that is falling over, hard as a stone, says importantly: “They will eat it in the kitchen,” and Darling, ready to give up the house (“Joy, God!”), Just to get rid of loneliness, - these two heroines, in our opinion, are not as close to each other as it seems to the author of the book, which is generally excellent.).

Kukin, in fact, did not see the "darling" for real - his attention was diverted by the ups and downs of the struggle for the Tivoli audience. Smirnin hissed angrily at her interfering in his conversations. Sasha in this sense is their worthy successor. Her love for him is one-sided; in response to her advice, he brushes it off: "Ah, leave it, please." She escorts him to the gymnasium, but he is embarrassed by her and, when the gymnasium building is visible, says: “You, aunt, go home, now I’ll get there myself” (IX, 325).

She talks about gymnasium affairs in the same way as she used to talk about the theater, then about the board and firewood, about veterinary supervision. But this is already almost completely devoid of the comedy with which her words were perceived: “Vanichka and I are staging“ Orpheus in Hell ”. She repeats Sasha's words with such love for him that the hidden satirical intonation of the author is almost replaced by a hidden lyrical one.

This is also an important difference between a story and a sketch. In the words "I was the wife of an artist ..." - one intonation, restrainedly ironic.

In "Darling" the author's intonation does not remain unchanged. At the beginning of the story, she is unapologetically mocking. For example: Kukin aroused in the "darling" "a real, deep feeling." As if you can take this author's message seriously. However, we read further: “She constantly loved someone and could not live without it”: she loved her dad, her aunt, and even earlier her French teacher. In this series of cordial attachments - to dad, to aunt, to teacher - it is unlikely that the message of "real deep feeling" for Kukin can be taken literally.

In the same way, the phrase "After the wedding they lived well" loses its direct meaning when it is then repeated with mechanical accuracy when characterizing family life with a second husband.

But when we read about the heroine's love for the little boy Sasha, the intonation of the author's message is perceived in a different way:

“She stops and looks after him, without blinking, until he hides in the entrance of the gymnasium. Oh, how she loves him! Of her former affections, not one was so deep, never before had her soul submitted so selflessly, disinterestedly and with such joy as now, when motherly feeling flared up in her more and more ... "

This is how far the characterization of the heroine has moved compared to the sketch in the notebook. Not just a lack of independence, secondary judgments, limitations, etc., but the ability of the soul to devote itself entirely to another, without a trace.

The story is called "Darling". And this word is repeated many times in the narration: the guests-ladies, grabbing Olga Semyonovna by the hand, exclaim in a fit of pleasure:

"- Darling!"

Kukin, seeing her neck and full shoulders, clasps his hands:

"- Darling!"

She mourns Kukin, laments, and the neighbors, crossing themselves, lament: "Darling ... Dear Olga Semyonovna, mother, how she is dying."

And against the background of this repeatedly repeated word, it stands out all the more sharply: “Never before has her soul submitted so selflessly, disinterestedly and with such joy ...”

In this regard, I would like to draw attention to one feature of the construction of the story, in which the general structure also appears. We have seen that in "Darling" Chekhov's ability to correlate "chapters", details, and phrases reached a special level of art. So stylistically, the “heads” of Olga Semyonovna’s first and second marriages, the heroine’s dreams, the words “darling” and “soul” are mutually similar. In the same row is the repetition of the motive, which, as it were, frames the narrative.

The first marriage of the "darling" is interrupted by a telegram notifying of the sudden death of Kukin. At the end of the story, at night again, as then, an ominous knock is heard at the gate.

“This is a telegram from Kharkov,” she thinks, starting to tremble all over. “Mother demands Sasha to come to Kharkov ... Oh, Lord!”

The heroine is in despair, her head, hands, and feet are getting cold, but it turns out that this is not a telegram: the veterinarian, who returned late from the club, was knocking.

The emphasized similarity of these two telegrams - one announcing death, the other imaginary, is very significant: if a telegram had really come from Sasha's mother demanding that he be returned to Kharkov, it would be tantamount to a notice of death for the "darling".

Conceived as a comic character, the "darling" becomes the heroine of the story, whose soul is fraught with such disinterestedness, which the poor companions of her life are deprived of. From them she borrowed opinions, judgments - but on the other hand, she gave them all of herself, without a trace.

In this story, the originality of Chekhov's satire was clearly manifested. Merciless to the “case”, but in complex mutual transitions merges with the lyrics, when the hero of the story becomes a person who is able to love, pity the other, simply and artlessly giving him all his poor, deprived of many souls.

The story of the story "Darling" is a movement of satire to lyrics. At the same time, satire does not cease to be itself, does not lose its irony, but, as it were, softens the sentence to the character.

This gradual softening makes itself felt both in the creative history of the story and in its very text. It is enough to compare the opening lines: “... She constantly loved someone and could not live without it.<...>She was a quiet, good-natured, compassionate young lady with a meek, soft look, very healthy ”(IX, 316) - and the words from the finale:“ For this strange boy, for his dimples on her cheeks, for a cap, she would give her whole life , I would give with joy, with tears of tenderness. Why? And who knows - why? (IX, 326).

In the first case, the typical features of the heroine are emphasized; she belongs to a very specific category - the “compassionate young lady”. Everything is clear here. In the second - a character coming out "out of the row." There is something inexplicable about loving someone else's boy. There is not much room left for irony here.

And again we are convinced: Chekhov's notebooks are a special world. The world of prefigurative nebulae, in which the contours of future faces, destinies, plots are not clearly distinguished. The world of original ideas, which have a long and contradictory path of development ahead.

It’s a shame to read when a modern researcher writes: “By its structure, the image of Belikov is obviously close to the image of Darling: the same unambiguity, the same psychological thickening, which predetermines the transformation of a proper name into a common noun” ( I. Gurvich. Chekhov's Prose (Man and Reality). M., "Fiction", 1970, p.-125.).

“Unambiguity” is the definition that the heroine of a Chekhov story deserves least of all.

Composition

The story "Darling" Anton Pavlovich Chekhov wrote in 1899. Anton Pavlovich Chekhov planned to write this story in order to ridicule the petty-bourgeois life, the useless and thoughtless existence of man. The heroine of this story is endowed with a rather limited inner world, she has simple needs in life and primitive experiences. Chekhov describes her this way: "She was a quiet, good-natured, compassionate young lady with a meek soft look, very healthy." Her name was Olga Semyonovna or Olenka, but more often she was called Dushechka.

In the story, Anton Pavlovich Chekhov surprisingly subtly and organically intertwined subtle irony and humanity. Chekhov tried to open the inner world of the heroine to the reader, but at the same time the author feels regret, because he presents us with an empty person.

The main character of the story "Darling" had a rare quality: if she fell in love with someone, she always became an extension of the object of her love; she always lived by his worries, thoughts and interests. But, unfortunately, she did not have her own worries, thoughts and interests.

Anton Pavlovich Chekhov openly makes fun of Darling when he describes her first husband. Why could she fall in love with Kukin? “Kukin, entrepreneur and owner of the Tivoli Pleasure Garden... He was short, thin, with a yellow face, with combed temples, he spoke in a liquid tenor, And when he spoke, he twisted his mouth; and despair was always written on his face ... ”After Olga Semyonovna became Kukin’s wife, she never spoke of herself in the singular, but only said “Vanechka and I.” They lived in harmony. She sat at the box office, attended rehearsals, and at any opportunity told her friends, repeating the words of Vanechka: “You can only get true pleasure and become educated and humane in the theater.” This happiness, according to Chekhov, is petty-bourgeois, and it is completely cloudless. But fate was not kind to Darling: her "Vanechka" suddenly dies and leaves an inconsolable widow.

But Olga Semyonovna's (or simply Dushechka's) grief is short, a little more than three months pass, and she falls in love with her neighbor - Pustovalov, who serves as a manager in a lumberyard. Having become the wife of Vasily Andreevich, Dushechka sat in the office from morning to evening, writing accounts and selling goods. Now Darling began to look at the world through the eyes of her new husband: “Vasichka and I have no time to go to the theater, we are working people, we are not up to trifles. What good is there in these theatres? A.P. Chekhov is simply ironic about Olga Semyonovna, because quite recently the heroine was simply in love with the theater. But fate again presents her with an unpleasant surprise: Pustovalov has died, and Olenka is again a widow.

This time Darling went into mourning for six months and fell in love again. This time, the object of her love is the veterinarian Smirnin, who was married, but because of a quarrel with his wife, he lived alone. He rented a room from Olga Semyonovna in the wing.

In the city where Dushechka lived, they found out about this after “meeting a lady she knew at the post office, she said:
“We don’t have proper veterinary supervision in the city…”

She called the veterinarian "Volodichka". However, her happiness did not last long. The regiment in which he served was transferred, and he left forever. As a result, Darling was left alone. In her soul "it is both empty and tedious, and reeks of wormwood ..." She has grown old and grown ugly.
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She gradually became a well-fed and bored bourgeois, who only lives when she has someone to take care of, someone to “give” her love to. The disadvantage of such a life is obvious. But A.P. Chekhov does not express his attitude towards the heroine, but gradually tries to lead the reader to an understanding of his author's position. He never imposes his opinion on anyone. Many generations of readers place their own accents in the character of Darling, distinguish for themselves positive and negative traits in her character.

At first glance, it seems that the theme of Darlings has been exhausted. Such petty-bourgeois happiness is debunked. Her life, which is devoid of striving for a goal, is meaningless. Anton Pavlovich Chekhov contrasts her with the heroines from The Three Sisters, The Bride, The Cherry Orchard.
But Anton Pavlovich Chekhov laid in the soul of Darling an inexhaustible potential, with her need to love and be needed by at least someone. M. Gorky, characterizing such humanism of Chekhov, said: "His grief for people humanizes both the detective and the shopkeeper-robber - everyone whom it touches."

Olga Semyonovna's potential for love is fully realized when a retired veterinarian moves in with her son and wife. And it is the son of the veterinarian, Sasha, who becomes the object of her great and at the same time selfless love. “Olenka talked to him, gave him tea, and her heart in her chest suddenly became warm and contracted sweetly, as if this boy was her own son.” Sasha went to the gymnasium. And none of her affections from the past were so deep.

The story "Darling" reaches its climax at the end. Sasha lives with Olga Semyonovna. “For this strange boy, for his dimples on his cheeks, for a cap, she would give her whole life, she would give it with joy, with tears of tenderness.” Her life is empty if she has no one to take care of. “... Mother demands Sasha to Kharkov ... Oh my God!” She is in despair; her head, legs, hands get cold, and it seems that there is no person in the whole world more unhappy than her. But another minute passes, voices are heard; this veterinarian came home from the club. “Well, thank God,” Olenka thinks. Gradually, heaviness lags behind the heart, it becomes light again; she lies down and remembers Sasha, who "sleeps soundly ..."
Is it the same Darling, or maybe it's a completely different person?

Darling, in the image of which Anton Pavlovich Chekhov, decided to ridicule the "vulgarity of a vulgar person", grows at the end of the story into a heroine who arouses sympathy.
Chekhov very often wondered why his comedies did not cause fits of laughter, but tears.

Such a feature of the talent of A.P. Chekhov was noted by L.N. Tolstoy. He compares Chekhov with the biblical priest Valzam, who wanted to curse the people, but instead of cursing he blessed, for God touched his lips. The same thing happened with A.P. Chekhov: he wanted to ridicule a person with a poor soul, but the truth of the character created by his talent turns out to be stronger than this plan.

The main feature of Chekhov's nature is a keen instinct for someone else's pain, the innate wisdom of a lofty and kind soul. To understand his views, thoughts, you need to peer into the depths of the works, listen to the sounding voices of the heroes of his work. The writer is interested in ordinary people, in whom he tries to find what makes them filled with high spirituality.

In the eighties of the nineteenth century, Chekhov began to publish in the influential newspaper Novoye Vremya, owned by A.S. Suvorin. There is an opportunity to sign stories with a real surname. Since 1887, almost all of the writer's works have been published by Suvorin. From these books, Russia recognized Chekhov.

Speaking about the prototype of Darling, we can say with confidence that this is a generalized symbol, a certain general property of character - the foremother principle.

He enthusiastically accepted the story of L.N. Tolstoy.

Genre, direction

Chekhov continues the best traditions of classical realism, which is intertwined with the techniques of high naturalism.

The writer comes into contact with symbolism, looking for modern forms of depicting reality in it.

"Darling" is a short story, the musicality of which makes it possible to speak of its intimacy. The narration is accompanied by a slight irony that hides a mocking smile.

essence

The focus is on the ordinary life of Olga Semyonovna Plemyannikova. There is no plot intrigue.

Two storylines stand out in the story, both connected with the story of Olenka: on the one hand, “the chain of the heroine’s hobbies”, on the other, “the chain of losses and losses”. Darling loves all three husbands selflessly. She asks for nothing in return for her love. Without passion simply can not live. Take away this feeling from her - life will lose all meaning.

All husbands leave this earth. She sincerely mourns them.

True love comes to Darling only when the boy Sasha appears in her fate.

Main characters and their characteristics

The characters and souls of Chekhov's heroes are not immediately revealed. The author teaches not to rush to make unambiguous assessments of his characters.

Olga Semyonovna Plemyannikova- "quiet, good-natured, compassionate young lady." Everything in her appearance was “soft”: both her eyes and her white neck. But the hallmark was a "kind, naive smile." A loving person, in whose fate three heartfelt attachments appear one after another: entrepreneur Ivan Kukin, timber warehouse manager Vasily Andreevich Pustovalov, veterinarian Vladimir Platonych Smirnin. Olenka becomes their "shadow", "echo woman". Deprived of her opinion, she always repeats what her husbands say. Loving without looking back, Darling cannot imagine her life alone. Vanechka, Vasechka, then Volodechka. She called everyone "dear". Left completely alone, she is lost, not a single thought is born in her mind. Emptiness and uncertainty of the future become constant companions of life. And only the appearance in her fate of the ten-year-old boy Sasha, the son of Smirnin, “gives” Olga Semyonovna love that captures her whole soul. The general property of character can be defined by the general word "femininity", it expresses the whole image of Darling.
Ivan Kukin. The characterization of the hero is based on an antithesis: he contains the Tivoli Pleasure Garden, but constantly complains about life. Appearance nondescript: skinny, says, twisting his mouth. A yellow complexion is a sign of physical ill health and a grumpy character. Unhappy person. The constantly falling rain is a symbol of a hostage of the situation desperate in his fate.
Vasily Andreevich Pustovalov- Plemyannikova's neighbor. "Powerful voice", "dark beard". A completely unremarkable personality. He doesn't like any kind of entertainment. Joint life with Olenka looks through the details: “both smelled good”, “they returned side by side”.
Vladimir Platonych Smirnin- A young man, a veterinarian. He divorced his wife, because he hated her, but regularly sent money to support his son.

Topics and issues

The fate of women in society always worried Anton Pavlovich. He devoted unforgettable pages of his work to her, creating the image of a “Chekhov woman”,
The main theme of the story is love. Love for relatives, love for a man and motherly love. The theme of love is the main one in the life of Darling. Her feelings are quiet, sad. The story is about the ability of a Russian woman to selflessness for the sake of continuing and preserving life.
But are the characters in the story completely free in their behavior and judgments? The hardest is the question of real human freedom about overcoming dependence on loving people.
The problem of happiness. Is it possible to call a happy person who lives only for the benefit and happiness of his relatives and friends? Is it really necessary to provide them with “happiness” according to some kind of their own norm? The author tries to answer these questions with his usual delicacy.
The philosophical problem of the value of life. A person has obligations to it and to its preservation. You don't need to destroy it.
The conflict of ordinary meaningless life and personality, which must "kill the slave in itself" and begin to live consciously. The heroine will have to throw off the sleepy stupor of passivity and take responsibility for someone's fate.

Meaning

The writer usually does not give comforting answers. Not everything in life is clear to him. But there are such values in prose that the master is sure of. What is love? First of all, it is a feeling that allows a person to reveal the potential of his soul. To love does not mean copying your soul mate, blindly repeating her thoughts, completely depriving yourself of the freedom of choice. Love gives a person an invisible energy that allows him to share with his beloved all the hardships of life, to overcome the difficulties encountered on the way. Where there is no true love, there life is not completely real - this is the main idea of the writer.

A woman is not only a loving and caring wife. She is the mother who gives the world a child, the successor of the human race. Chekhov's love is a deeply Christian feeling, hence his idea - to give Darling feelings that elevate her, and not enslave her in a routine.

True love is possible only in the family world. Maternal love allows you to go through the path of knowing life again with the child.

What does it teach?

Chekhov puts the reader in front of the need to choose the answer to the question himself. The main idea is contained in the scene of the “geography lesson”: “A part of the land is called an island,” Olenka repeats. “Islands” are human destinies, “land” is our vast world, which is made up of family “islands”. After all, only there you can experience the highest fullness of life and find yourself.

The writer teaches that every professed truth is limited. Life in the variety of its manifestations turns out to be “wiser”. The writer wanted a person not to hide from her, but to be able to live every moment she gave.

The story "Darling" Chekhov wrote in the 90s of the late 19th century. During this period, he had the opportunity to publish under his own name in the newspaper Novoye Vremya, which made him a well-known author.

Genre of the story- classical realism with elements of naturalism - a description of a simple everyday story. It is permeated with light irony, characteristic of many of the writer's works.

In the spotlight works - the ordinary life of Olga Plemyannikova. On the one hand, it is filled with selfless enthusiasm, and on the other hand, it is filled with the losses of these very hobbies. Olga loves all her husbands and asks for nothing in return. Moreover, she completely, as it were, merges with them, therefore she does not have personal opinions and desires. She lives only in the thoughts of her loved ones.

The main characters of the story- Darling, her husbands and the boy Sasha. The heroine herself is a quiet and good-natured, soft and loving young lady. She looks naive and innocent pure soul. Darling repeats everything word for word after her husbands, neglecting personal opinion. Due to her gentle nature, she calls them in a childish way: Vanechka, Vasechka, Volodechka. All husbands are not very memorable, boring and a little unhappy men, which does not bother the heroine. She lives their gray everyday life. They all leave her with time, which causes her pain and anguish. Because she can't live on her own. Without them, her life becomes empty and boring. Until the boy Sasha appears. She gives him love and care and, as she used to, lives in his thoughts. They, of course, are not suitable for her age, but this does not bother her.

Themes

The story brings up several themes. The first of them - the fate of women in society. In this case, a weak-willed young lady is described who is not used to living on her own, but only to please others.

Second theme - love. The feeling of maternal love, love for family and friends. For Darling, this is the basis of life. Her love is considered self-sacrifice for the happiness of loved ones.

The third theme is theme of happiness. Darling is only happy depending on others. How correct is this? How honest is it to sacrifice your happiness for the sake of others? The author tried to answer these questions.

The fourth theme conflict between routine and personality. Darling is a "slave" of someone else's opinions and requests and sacrifices his own. She cannot be called a conscious person, she had to take responsibility for her life. But she keeps whistling at the others.

foundation meaning works is to understand what true love is, and when it is an illusion and thus limits a person. Despite the great bright feeling, Darling does not experience real love, only its likeness.

The writer puts the reader before a choice: to determine for themselves what is a full life and true love, and what is an illusion. In addition, he shows that any proper representation can be very limited. It is important to see the diversity of life and not to refuse it.

Option 2

Written in 1898, published in the magazine "Family" A.P. Chekhov's story "Darling" was included in the 9th volume of the collected works of the writer. The main character Olga Semyonovna Plemyannikova lives in her parents' house not far from the Tivoli Garden in the Gypsy Sloboda. This sweetest, kindest girl. For her meek disposition and complaisant character, the neighbors called her "darling." Chekhov reveals the image of a girl, talks about her fate, sometimes with irony, sometimes with tragic notes.

Olenka Plemyannikova appears before us as a person for whom the meaning of life lies in love for other people. She lives with problems, cares of relatives. Her love is sincere, without pretense. While still a young girl, she loves her papa, aunt, who lives in Bryansk, her French teacher. Then he falls in love with the theater impresario Kukin, who lives next door in an outbuilding. An unattractive person: short in stature, thin build, with combed temples and a yellowish face. This perpetually dissatisfied, grumbling man. He constantly complains about the rainy weather, about the fact that people do not go to his theater.

Without noticing herself, Olenka literally dissolves in his problems. She becomes infected with her husband's contemptuous attitude towards theater visitors, constantly repeating his words verbatim. Attends rehearsals and comments if scenes are too frivolous. Actors take advantage of her kindness, borrow money, but are in no hurry to repay. Between themselves, they call her "Vanechka and I." This phrase constantly sounds in the conversations of the girl herself. Upon learning of the death of her husband, Darling loses the meaning of life, its inner content.

The void that has formed in the soul must be filled, and Olenka finds solace in a new reckless love for the timber merchant Pustovalov. She is literally consumed by his problems. Now her worries were the sale of timber, the price of it. But life with Pustovalov does not last long, he dies. And Darling again loses the meaning of life.

This love is replaced by love for the veterinarian Smirnin, who quarreled with his wife. Now her problem is poor veterinary supervision in the city. But this relationship does not last long, the doctor is transferred to another city. Olga Semyonovna's life again loses its meaning, she withers and grows old. However, Smirnin again comes to the city with his son Sasha. They settle in the wings next to Olenka's house. The boy enters the gymnasium. Darling goes headlong into Sasha's gymnasium problems, lives in his joys and sorrows, complains to his neighbors about the difficulty of learning. In her speech, the words “Sashenka and I” sound, she constantly quotes excerpts from textbooks. Her dreams are focused on Sasha's future. Olga sees him as an engineer or a doctor, in a big house, married with children. Only one thing worries the woman, she is very afraid that the boy can be taken away by the parents.

"Darling" is a story about a man who is able to love passionately, with all his heart. Olenka is touching in the manifestation of her worries, but at the same time funny. For her, to love is not to receive, but to give herself entirely, to live by the interests and problems of others.

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The story of A.P. Chekhov "Darling" was included in the 9th volume of the collected works of the writer. The main character Olga Semyonovna Plemyannikova lives in her parents' house not far from the Tivoli Garden in the Gypsy Sloboda. This sweetest, kindest girl. For her meek disposition and complaisant character, the neighbors called her "darling."

Chekhov reveals the image of a girl, talks about her fate, sometimes with irony, sometimes with tragic notes.